Vehicle body



Feb. 6, 1940. R. s. ROBERTS VEHI OLE BODY Filed July 27, 1936 PatentedFeb. 6, 1940 v-EmoLE ony" Ralph S.. Roberts, Detroit, Mifih assignor tov Briggs Manufacturing Company,

Detroit, I

Mich, a. corporation of Michigan: A plication July; '1936. Serial No.92,833 3 Claims. 01." sap-2)- This invention relatesgenerally to vehiclebodies and more particularly to ventilating means for such bodies,particularly iorautomobile bodies.

One ofthe objects of the. present" invention is to provide improvedmeans for withdrawing or exhausting air by suction from the interior of"a vehicle body.

novel means for creating a predetermined par.-

tial vacuum necessary for eifecting ventilation of theinterior of avehicle body by utilizing-{the drop of static pressure in an air streamas the speed '4 of the air therein increases.

tion of the vehicle or its engine for creating apartial vacuum or lowpressure zone so as to with-- draw air from the interior of thevehiclebody;

' the discharging conduit.

Other objects of this invention will appear in ventilating means,section being taken on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional View of the Venturi conduit, sectionbeing taken on line 33 of Fig. 2.

Before explaining in detail the present invention it is to be understoodthat the invention is not limited in its application to. the details ofconstruction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and'ofbeing carried out in various ways. understood that the phraseology orterminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not oflimitation, and it is not intended to limit the invention claimed hereinbeyond the requirements of the prior art. 1 v

In the drawings there is shown, by way of example, a device forventilating the interior of a.

motor vehicle, which device'comprises generally a Venturi conduit, theconverging portion whereof Another object of the invention is to'provideA further object of the invention is to utilize the flow of air producedby reason of the opera- A still further object of the invention istoin-' crease the e'liiciency of the ventilation inducing air stream byutilizingthe eife'ct of divergency of- Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectionalView of the Also it is to be.

is disposed in astream of air produced becauseof the operation of theengine driven fan ofth'e vehicle, the diverging portion of said conduitcommunicating with the compartment to be ventilated;Theopening'eifecting said co'mmuni'-' cation is-providedwith meansforregulatingthe size thereof, and thereby to control the ventila tioneffect produced;

As illustrated, my novel body ventilating-device, is shown incorporatedinto-a motor vehicle, the" converging portion 5-of the Venturi conduit6" being disposed in'the-stre'am of air produced-by the radiator fan i,while the diverging portion 8- thereof communicates with the passengercompartment 9. Referring morespecifica-lly to the PATENT OFFICE drawing,theV-enturi conduit is formed in the present-embodiment'of the inventionbythe side walls of the co'wl I0 and a separate metal sheet;

orpiece secured to said cowl Hi: The cowl is shaped-outat each side ofthe vehicle in front of thedoor; as shown in Fig. '1, to provide theouter" walls Illa of the diverging portion 8 of the Ven- I turi conduit.Ann metal plate Hissecured-by spot welding to theinner surfacexof t hecowl at" said 'shaped-outportion and serves as a partition wall toseparate said portion from the passenger compartment 9 of the vehicleand to form the inner wall of said Venturi conduit. The front end of theconduit 6 is open as shown at l3 in order to provide communication ofsaid conduit with the engine compartment M of the vehicle. The

forward inwardly offset portion of the cowl l0,

extending forwardly of the opening l3, is'secured to the dash I6 whilethe portion i'i extending rearwardly thereof is offset to form a seat 88adapted to receive an anti-squeak strip l9 against which rests the hood2B. In the present embodiment of. the invention the outside surfaces ofthe hood 20 and the cowl ill are co-planar at the I strip I9, and theconverging portion 5 of the Venturi conduit does not rise above theplane of the'cowl.

The hood 20 and the front portion it of the cowl Ill form a conduit 2|leading from the engine compartment M to the open end I3 of theconverging portion 5 of the Venturi conduit and serving to direct thestream of air created by the fan 1 into said converging portion 5., a

The diverging portion 8 of the Venturi conduit extends rearwardly'fromthe throat 22 of the conduit 6 and is open at its rearward extremity25.,, Thus the air may freely flow from the engine compartment. [4through said Venturi conduit and be discharged through the open end 25thereof. In flowing through the gradually converging portion 5 01' theconduit, the air gradually increases its velocity and consequently itsstatic pressure decreases correspondingly. If, therefore, acommunication is established at a suitable locality between the interiorof said air stream and a compartment having a substantially atmosphericpressure, there will be induced a flow of air from said compartment tosaid air stream. If the discharge end of the means effecting suchcommunication is opened rearwardly, the suction efiect of the air streamis considerably amplified. In the present embodiment of the inventionthe communication between the air stream of increased velocity and thepassenger compartment 9 is efiected by the opening 23 out in thepartition wall H. Adjustable pivotally mounted louvers or vanes 24 areoperatively disposed in said opening for adjusting the size thereof andfor regulating thereby the ventilating efiect produced, or to preventany ventilation, if desired.- The protruding ends of the adjustablelouvers or vanes 24 operate to amplify the suction effect of the airstream.

The velocity of the air and the degree of vacuum therein are greatest atthe place of smallest cross section of the conduit, that is to say inthe throat 22, increasing the cross section of the diverging portion 8tending to decrease the suction effect produced. However, since thediverging portion 8 has to discharge the increased amount of air andconsidering that protruding ends of the louvers decrease the crosssectional area open for the air passage, it will be appreciated that thegradually increasing general cross section of the diverging portion 8does not necessarily decrease appreciably the velocity of the flowingair. In some instances an increase of the net area of the cross sectionavailable in portion 8 for the passage of air from the enginecompartment may be intentionally increased, thus effecting a greaterdischarge of air from said compartment by utilizing the effect ofdivergency of the discharging means at the expense of throwing someadditional load on the fan.

The air exhausted from the passenger compartment 9 is compensated for bythe fresh air entering said compartment through any suitable openings,provided preferably in the rear portion of the compartment in order toeffect ventilation of the entire compartment.

Thus, considered from one of its broader aspects my inventioncontemplates providing novel means for ventilating vehicle bodies inwhich a Venturi conduit is disposed in the stream of air produced byoperation of the vehicle, such as in the air stream produced by theradiator fan, and utilizing the suction effect of the stream, as itsvelocity is increased in said conduit to withdraw the air from thepassenger compartment of the vehicle.

I claim: 1. In a motor vehicle having an engine compartment and apassenger compartment, a cowl,

a ventilation inducing Venturi conduit formed in part from the materialof said cowl and leading from said engine compartment to the atmosphere,the diverging portion of said Venturi conduit communicating with saidpassenger compartment.

2. In a motor vehicle having an engine compartment and a passengercompartment, a cowl shaped to provide outer walls of a Venturi con duitleading from the engine compartment to the atmosphere, a panel securedto said cowl to form the inner walls of said conduit, an opening beingprovided in said panel to effect communication between said passengercompartment and the diverging portion of said Venturi conduit.

3. In a motor vehicle having an engine compartment and a passengercompartment, a cowl shaped to provide outer walls of a Venturi conduitleading from the engine compartment to the atmosphere, a panel securedto said cowl to form the inner walls of said conduit, an opening beingprovided in said panel to effect communication between said passengercompartment and the diverging portion of said Venturi conduit, and meansadjustably restricting the size of said opening.

RALPH S. ROBERTS.

